Exploring citation diversity in scholarly literature: an entropy-based approach

This study explores the citation diversity in scholarly literature, analyzing different patterns of citations observed within different countries and academic disciplines. We examine citation distributions across top institutions within certain countries and find that the higher end of the distribution follows a Power Law or Pareto Law pattern; the scaling exponent of the Pareto Law varies depending on the number of top institutions included in the analysis. By adopting a novel entropy-based diversity measure, our findings reveal that countries with both small and large economies tend to cluster similarly in terms of citation diversity. The composition of countries within each group changes as the number of top institutions considered in the analysis varies. Moreover, we analyze citation diversity among award-winning scientists across six scientific disciplines, finding significant variations. We also explore the evolution of citation diversity over the past century across multiple fields. A gender-based study in several disciplines confirms varying citation diversities among male and female scientists. Our innovative citation diversity measure stands out as a valuable tool for assessing the unevenness of citation distributions, providing deeper insights that go beyond what traditional citation counts alone can reveal. This comprehensive analysis enhances our understanding of global scientific contributions and fosters a more equitable view of academic achievements.